Memories of Edhelion - Aldebaraan of Gladden

After the Elven tutorial to LOTRO, you'll find yourself standing before the gates of a razed and abandoned Edhelion. This area has seen relatively few changes over the years and is rarely visited once the main game begins. In the early days of LOTRO, you eventually revisited this refuge as you made your way to Skorgrim's Tomb, northeast of Edhelion. Update 2, I believe, changed the format of the intro and rearranged some locations. The tomb was moved, and a few NPCs were added to the town during the intro. Once the new intro was completed, there was never reason to return and this area became nothing but a distant memory...

...unless you were an avid Inn League daily completionist. : )

There's another reason why few swing by Edhelion. For the longest time, a lingering graphical bug has existed here. Leaving the town through the main gates puts your current gaming session in a rather obscuring brown haze. Relogging will fix this nine times out of ten. Anyway, for those of you that have considered or tried to take cosmetic photos, I have a few tips. First, whether you're here in daytime or at night, crank your ambient light to the max in advanced graphical settings. Doing this allows you to see your surroundings not only clearly, but at a greater distance. Second, coming here during the day is your best option for optimal lighting. Third, use your personal lanterns here at night, which can be toggled by ALT+F10, for ease of picture taking. There are three settings to the lantern--front, back, and off. You'll rotate through that order each time you use ALT+F10.

Oh, and about that haze? It makes for some interesting scenery in other parts of the game. : )

The original tier 2 Orthanc pieces have vanished from the cosmetic radar over the past year. I don't count the skin additions to Lalia's Market because the originals don't dye. Despite that fact, this class gear was arguably the most beautiful in the game. Lovers of the "black and white" color theme proudly displayed these pieces everywhere they went, usually in full class sets. At one time, these pieces required seals. With the release of Riders of Rohan, that requirement disappeared. However, you won't be able to equip them to your character unless it's been run through the respective wings...but that won't stop you from using the wardrobe function. The Champion, Lore-master, and Captain sets were cosmetically sought the most of all nine classes. You can still find these at the Ox-clan Camp.

Head: Ceremonial Hat of the Elder Days (Red, skirm camp cosmetic vendor, Rift light armor)
Shoulders: Embroidered Mantle of the Dunland Healer (Crimson, Dunland landscape quest reward)
Back: Elf-lord's Cloak (Crimson, LOTRO Store)**
Chest: Robe of Erebraw (Default, ToO T2 Rune-keeper armor vendor, Ox-clan Camp)
Hands: Gloves of Erebraw (Default, ToO T2 Rune-keeper armor vendor, Ox-clan Camp)***
Feet: Rock-climbers Shoes (Crimson, T6 tailor recipe)

**Cloak is optional.
***By the way, gloves are 95% optional on this outfit...and here's why. There's an interesting little graphical bug regarding male Elves and any of the Orthanc-style robes. It appears there is an alternative model for the forearm when the robe sleeves are elbow-length. As a result, the forearms and hands don't connect properly and you can see the space at the virtual "joint" during multiple animations and when stationary. Prior to U13, the hand  would hang at an angle, attached only to a small portion of the forearm. After the update, the space became less pronounced. To hide that bug, gloves/gauntlets are required. This error doesn't appear when wearing any other variety of shirts, be they long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or sleeveless. Neither does this happen with any other race/gender combination.

Post U13 screenshot of model bug.